Early 2022 financial headlines have been rife with bad news.
Inflation, supply-chain problems, staffing and product shortages, global political strife, waning pandemic pressures, and rising home and car prices are just some of the issues currently contributing to economic volatility.
But not necessarily in the insurance world. In a show of the industry's historic resilience, 2021 premium reporting compiled by S&P Global Market Intelligence reveals that many insurance carriers showed notable premium growth in several lines of P&C insurance business — particularly commercial lines — over the 12-month reporting period.
"The growth rate is really the big headline for last year," says Tim Zawacki, principle research analyst for the U.S. insurance industry at S&P Global Market Intelligence. "The amount of rate increases and the momentum from the economic recovery combined for remarkable expansion in written premium."
In fact, 2021 premium growth overall in the U.S. P&C insurance industry was the highest since 2003, Zawacki says. "Longtime industry observers will tell you that was an exceptionally hard-market environment."
What factors contributed to this notable growth? Pandemic relief efforts employed in late
2020, commercial lines strength despite pandemic pressures and business-interruption coverage litigation, and resilience among a variety of P&C insurers, not just those who are considered the industry's biggest fish.
"It wasn't necessarily the largest companies that were driving the growth," Zawacki confirms. "It was more (about) the rate of expansion among the top 20 to 50 groups."
He adds that many of the Top 10 insurers rely on specific lines of business — namely, personal auto — to buoy their fiscal outcomes while some of the smaller insurers either feature a more diverse menu of products or cater to specialized coverages.
"It really drives home the point about how companies were broadly able to generate favorable price movement in their commercial lines," Zawacki adds. "It was kind of a rising tide lifts all boats scenario."
The interactive graphics that follow illustrate 2021's top 100 U.S. insurance groups, top 100 U.S. insurance companies, as well as the highest performing carriers in various lines of the P&C insurance business. Zawacki predicts this premium growth will continue through 2022, with the real impact of broad rate increases showing up late this year and early in 2023.
For now, the insurance premium reporting story for 2021 is one that illustrates the fortitude and necessity of insurance products as well as the strength of the U.S. economy overall.
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